


Grieving

by rynoa29



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 06:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6554038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rynoa29/pseuds/rynoa29
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is the nights that are the hardest, when you wake up with your voice hoarse from the nightmares—the reality—that has torn you apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grieving

It feels like drowning.

The sensation is just the same—paralyzing; your breath is trapped in your lungs, heavy, a choking pressure that makes your eyes water and burn. The ache that takes over your body weighs more than you can bear, hurts in a way no battle has ever made you feel before. You're helpless.

You can still smell the searing hot stench of burning flesh, you can still feel it against your hands as they shake, the too-slow motion of that sickening wet liquid dripping down your fingers.

 _A demon's blood_ , the world tells you.

 _THIS IS MY BROTHER_ , you want to yell back at every single one of them until the words sear into their skin in the same way your misery burns through yours.

You wake up, countless nights, to the memory of his life ebbing away in your arms, to the realization that after all these years, after all the promises you both made, you are now—alone. The sun that kept your loneliness at bay, that brightened your world, has been cruelly snuffed out.

The wound is hard to nurse. If Sabo's absence left a void in your chest, Ace's only tore it wider, left a chasm that you may never be able to fill again.

You try to move on. But here, in this island, miles and miles away from your crew, your last lifeline, it's tough to stay strong. Jinbei's words ring in your ears, a soothing balm of encouragement, but they're not enough. You are no one's captain right now. Your head is bereft of your duty and your heart is bleeding out.

_I want to get stronger and stronger and stronger and much more stronger than that!_

The childish words echo in your head, make you shed bitter tears, but you cling to them just the same. They're all you have left now.

 _Ace_ , you think with a stuttering breath as your nails dig into the raw skin over your aching heart. _Ace, Ace, Ace._

 _Thank you,_ Ace whispers, voice weak, _thank you for loving me._

The sky above you is as vast and as endless as the sea. It makes you think of your dreams, of the adventures that await your future, and yet, in these moments, you cannot help the shameful wish of throwing all of that away just to have him at your side again.

 


End file.
